>Welcome to Chockstone Ben_E.>Regarding people 'still hammering on' I feel that point needs a bit of>clarification, as there are a few iconic climbs at Buffalo that>get aided regularly (Ozymandias being one), that have not only gone on>clean aid for many years now, but have in fact also been free climbed.>~> There are many (most?) in the Australian climbing community who would>consider it very poor form to hammer on those, however many other>lines are there still waiting to be done as cleanly as possible...>☺

Hey there IdratherbeclimbingM9.

Firstly, thanks for the welcome.

Secondly, what's the line about when all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail?

Relax, I did not mean to cause alarm or open any cans of worms with my (mainly flippant) hammer comment. I have no intention of nailing my way up Ozy, nor nailing every other available surface of Buffalo into submission. You'll note all my aid climbing to date has been hammerless...

Having been climbing in California for the past 5 years I've seen on routes such Serenity what pitons do to the rock over time.

Hopefully we'll get to meet up in Nov or some other time; I think you'll find we're on about the same page on these issues (unless you restrict yourself to knotted pieces of cord for pro - in which case I take my hat off to you but won't be joining you in that suicidal degree of saintliness).